11 minute read
Supporting society’s collective memory
Creative New Zealand has been funding artists, arts practitioners, art organisations, and community arts for 25 years. KATHY OMBLER speaks with those well versed in the arts and in the processes of managing our arts funding.
Art has been described as the repository of a society’s collective memory, hence the ethos in many countries for public funding of the arts. Creative New Zealand, a crown entity governed by the Arts Council, Toi Aotearoa, promotes and funds public art throughout New Zealand. Art forms range across Ngā toi Māori, to Pacific arts, literature, music, theatre, multidisciplinary arts, interarts, dance, craft, visual arts, and community arts to new forms of technologybased art. Funding advisor Kereama Te Ua understands the vulnerability of artists. As a leading performer, he was once so concerned that arts would not provide him with a livelihood that he went teaching. Now he supports others looking to make an income from art. His role at Creative New Zealand is to help people and organisations make funding applications for the Ngā toi Māori and interarts (fusion) art forms. Going to the “other side” “A big part of my job is to have the cultural capability to do that, and tikanga will always guide me. The core values that steer my processes are manaakitanga, mahi tahi (working together), aroha tetahi ki tetahi (accept everybody), tuakana teina (“big brother–little brother” learning system), and whakaiti (humility), which is the most important. “When I came here, I thought I was crossing to the ‘other side’, to a government agency, and I wanted to bring a good level of mātauranga with me. Little did I know Creative New Zealand always had a strong tikanga process, but it was not always visible to the people on the ground,” he adds. Kereama also brings a stellar background in performing arts to his role. For 20 years, he has been a leading member of the kapa haka roopu Te Waka Huia, five times national champions. “Kapa haka is what keeps me grounded, connects me to my aunties, continues the art forms of our ancestors, and gives me self-respect.” In 2000, he completed a Bachelor of Performing Māori Arts, then became deeply immersed in film, theatre, and dance, but he didn’t have faith there was a career in the arts so moved to education. “I used haka and theatre to teach rangatahi about health, literacy, and numeracy, then taught performing arts at Whitireia for five years. “I think having all that experience helps me identify with the artists. They might be a dancer, but how does a dancer write an application? Do they dance it? Or a weaver? I can support them to translate their world into a form we can work with. “I know that when someone tells me about their piece it’s not just a piece of art. It’s telling a story, a discourse, maybe about a journey or a healing process. It’s baring their heart and soul for all to see in an application.” _______________________________________________________
TIKANGA WILL ALWAYS GUIDE ME.
The Te Hā o ngā Toi Māori Arts Strategy, launched by Creative New Zealand in 2019, is strengthening the tikanga process, he says. The strategy’s vision states: “Ngā toi Māori will be seen and heard everywhere and highly valued, as part of New Zealand’s distinct identity, which is admired globally.” “The strategy came out of a nationwide road show, asking communities how they see themselves as part of the arts, what barriers they face, what is best to serve our people, and what is best for our arts,” says Kereama. He talks of the importance of Te Whare Tapere, the traditional house of entertainment of Māori. “It existed pre-European, before kapa haka, which is quite contemporary, and included performance art, fashion garments, stories, puppetry, taonga puoro (Māori instruments). Our discussions are now continuing with iwi around the country, asking them what’s important. Everything, from the traditions of Te Whare Tapere to waka building to visual and music art fusion incorporating sound and pyro-technology, is in our focus.” Different parts of the brain As well as supporting artists, the role of funding advisor is heavily administrative as Kereama’s colleague, Sarah Burge, explains. “One side of our role is providing advice to artists and organisations of the arts through the application process. The other side, which uses a different part of the brain altogether, is administration, processing applications that come in ahead of them being sent for external assessment, as well as funding agreements and post-project completion reports.” The challenge is switching between those roles, she says. “Interacting with artists and giving advice, then switching to detailed processing and reading can be hard. The silver lining is it’s nice to have variety. “The highs are the applications we can support. We always feel so grateful to be able to support a project. To see an idea on paper being brought to life is superrewarding.” I really think the arts are important for everyone, all New Zealanders, she adds. “They’re a way to bring things to life, to bring joy into everyday life. They’re a way of therapy and wellness, for both the viewers
and those making the art, and it’s rewarding to see that and to help make it happen.” Like Kereama, Sarah brings an arts background to the role, along with customer-service skills. “I studied at Elam School of Fine Arts and did a conjoint degree, a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Art History. Later I worked in Auckland Art Gallery’s visitor experience team, building communication and customer-service skills by working front of house, talking and reacting with people about art.” Her computer and administration skills were developed when she joined Creative New Zealand in 2017 as Arts Funding Administrator. _______________________________________________________
Having that artistic understanding and background helps us to engage at a deeper level, she says. “People get so excited about their project that we have to give them the time to work through the detail. We have to listen and understand their project. Talking it through often helps them resolve any issues with their project.” Being able to meet with anyone and build trust and rapport is essential, she says. “That means whether by email, on the phone, or in person, it’s having the ability to provide the same quality of service no matter the delivery mode. It’s being able to send a smile down the phone or in an email.” Creative NZ’s nerds Lee Martelli, Senior Advisor Assessment Services, says her team’s focus is around details, structure, systems, and analysis, developing effective assessment criteria. “We love numbers. We call ourselves but focused, efficient standards-based assessments are critical for assessing funding applications. “Our role is to develop assessment criteria. Broadly speaking, this is done in three parts: the idea, the viability, and the strategic fit to the purpose of the fund. Often we will add extra criteria, for example, where a project needs to be delivered in a COVIDimpacted environment.” A major shift two years ago was the move to external assessment. “We used to have a mix of internal and external assessors and have changed that to entirely external. This follows overseas examples and enables far more expertise and diversity.” Supporting the external assessors is a highlight of Lee’s work. “We have immovable deadlines, and we need to deliver systems to support the assessors. We create an environment based on theory rather than common practice, and we are focused back to standards all the time.” Lee says a personal development trip to Harvard Business School, where she learnt about the Kaizen approach to assessment processes, has been particularly beneficial. New Zealand company 1000minds’ decision-making and conjoint-analysis software has also provided guidance in
nerds,” she laughs. It might all seem far removed from creative art, looking at the key factors of decision making for the development of assessment criteria, she adds. Collaboration within Creative New Zealand is very strong, says Lee. “Our work is so deadline driven we all muck in towards making it happen. The people in our organisation are super-talented and can talk strategically. And everyone expects really high standards. We talk a lot about improvement; we are very self-reflective. “Most of us have previously worked in assessment in the education sector. Some of us are artists with a fascination for the mechanics of analysis and processes.” _______________________________________________________
WE TALK A LOT ABOUT IMPROVEMENT.
Lee has been involved in assessment design and moderation for 20 years; this includes designing assessment exemplars for NZQA. She was formerly Director of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra Connecting programme (the orchestra’s education, community, and outreach programme), where she collaborated with marketresearch companies on evaluation tools and developing impact frameworks.
Creative NZ – responding to COVID-19
Creative New Zealand teams were not only busier than ever during the COVID-19 lockdown, they also transformed their systems to create more efficiency and give faster responses to those in need and made available a $29 million Emergency Response Package that covered loss of income, funding for short-term projects, and shortterm relief for investment clients. In order to be flexible, responsive, and responsible funders, Creative New Zealand suspended all funding programmes that were open, were due to open, or had applications being assessed. Suspending programmes allowed the organisation to concentrate its efforts on its emergency response. Lee Martelli says the Emergency Response Package generated a massive sector response. “In the seven weeks that our Phase 1 Emergency Response Package was open, we received triple the number of applications we would normally receive in an entire year. In the last week alone, we received more applications than we would in a year. That package was created within two to three weeks, and we started to deliver it as soon as it was ready. We needed to get funding out to the sector in need – and as fast as possible.” To ensure they could respond quickly and effectively, it was all hands on deck. By fine-tuning their processes and redirecting their people, the usual 10-week turnaround between an applicant applying and getting a decision was reduced to a maximum of three weeks. “We had to be agile with decision making and work faster. During lockdown, the same dynamics worked between all teams. I really liked that everyone came onboard together,” Lee says. Lee found that for her team, Assessment Services, delivering systems in this timeframe was helped by engaging the Kaizen approach. Kaizen, a Japanese term meaning change for the better, is a set of activities directed at improving standardised procedures in business operations. “It means we ask two things: what is really important in the process that we cannot leave out and what is the most streamlined way to do this and still retain quality and integrity in the process? “It took us two to three weeks to put the process in place. The whole point was getting the funding out – it was continuity funding and continuity is what was needed.” 19 PUBLIC SECTOR September 2020
Emerge Aotearoa A Non-Government Organisation’s Journey to Enhance Cultural Competence
The path to biculturalism can be difficult for organisations. BARBARA DISLEY of Emerge Aotearoa talks about her organisation’s path.
Emerge Aotearoa was formed in 2015 when Recovery Solutions Group and Richmond Fellowship Trust merged – these were two organisations that worked in mental health, addiction, disability, and housing. Both organisations had been serving a significant number of Māori and Pasifika whānau and knew they could do better. At the time of the merger, a new board was formed. Four of the board members were Māori, one was Samoan, and the remaining four were Pākehā.
The board were committed to making the necessary changes to more effectively meet the needs of communities. This article focuses on how we improved our responsiveness to Māori. Barbara Disley What we did Clarifying our strategic priorities and our values To create our values, we brought together kaimahi (staff) from across the organisation and engaged in a process facilitated by Whaea Moe Milne, a Māori health expert. Four core values emerged: with purpose
We then established four founding pou:
Better meeting the needs of Māori Tangata Whaiora
Better meeting the needs of Pasifika clients
Commitment to participation of people with lived experience and peer services
Social housing provisions to people with mental health and addiction issues
These pou were about moving the organisation towards being bicultural – honouring Māori perspectives in all matters, honouring people’s need for connectedness and empowerment, walking the talk, and consistently seeking understanding to inform our day-today decisions. Finally, our founding pou looked to honour and value the contribution that comes with lived experience and ensure everyone has the right to safe, warm, dry housing.
Three years on, we refreshed our strategy and the outcomes we aspire to.
Our outcomes are driven and evaluated through a strong social equity lens. We seek to have everybody leave our services healthier and with more control over their lives. Our challenge is to analyse data so that we can look through different lenses to ensure greater equity.
Our priorities, pou, and values form the kaupapa that drives the organisation.
Investing in the pou We set up an internal structure that ensures Māori capability is present at all levels of the organisation. The current structure supports a Mana Whakahaere at the group executive level with cultural partners at the regional level. The board have held the chief executive accountable for ensuring we grow Māori capability and responsiveness.
Measuring and reporting on success Reports are presented through the lens of the pou. We try to present as much data as we can through these lenses. For example, we look at recruitment and retention data through an ethnicity lens and for the whānau we support. We are still developing our data capability so that we can more accurately measure outcomes.
Building cultural competence across the organisation In February 2016, the Leadership Team
Whakawhanaunga – Connecting completed the first Māori Competency
Manaaki – Engaging with respect
Ako – Walking and learning together
